Millionaire Robert Durst returning to court in New Orleans

Source: AP

BY JANET MCCONNAUGHEY

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- After nearly a week in a prison's mental health unit, millionaire Robert Durst is scheduled to return Monday to a New Orleans court, where his lawyers will argue that he was illegally arrested on murder and weapons charges and should be released.

The 71-year-old's lawyers say his arrest was orchestrated to coincide with the last episode of an HBO show about him and his links to three killings. At Monday's preliminary hearing on weapons charges, his lawyers planned to argue that he was illegally arrested on those New Orleans charges and on the Los Angeles County warrant accusing him of murdering a female friend.

Lawyers William Gibbens and Dick DeGuerin outlined their arguments in court papers filed last week for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Harry Cantrell on the weapons charges. One charge alleges that he had a .38-caliber revolver; previous felony convictions make that illegal. The other charge alleges he had the weapon and illegal drugs: more than 5 ounces of marijuana.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will bring those charges before a grand jury.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this Tuesday, March 17, 2015 file, Millionaire Robert Durst is escorted from Orleans Parish Criminal District Court to the Orleans Parish Prison after his arraignment in New Orleans. Durst is going back to court in New Orleans after nearly a week in a prison mental ward 70 miles away. At a preliminary hearing on weapons charges on Monday, March 23, his lawyers planned to argue that the 71-year-old Houston man should be released because he was illegally arrested on those charges and a Los Angeles County warrant accusing him of murdering a female friend. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REAL_ESTATE_HEIR_WEAPONS_CHARGES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-23-08-38-43